Our economy is based on investments. Short term vs long term; high vs low yield. Where is the best place to put your money? The answers vary; they depend on who you’re talking to, who you’re listening to. With so many voices it’s hard to know what is truly best. That can be scary when you’re a young family saving for college, or an individual trying to make wise investments for the future. So many variables; so many ideas.
Financial investment strategies are valuable but don’t have the long term pay off parents truly need. You are wise to plan and save; there is no doubt about that. But what legacy will you leave your family beyond the material? What is the #1 investment strategy for parents?
I heard a great message on Tuesday from Sue Donaldson. She spoke to a group of moms about A Mother’s Legacy. Sue spoke with humor and wit but also interjected thoughts to ponder.
It caused me to reflect on my own sons and wondered what I have left for them. Interestingly, within an hour of driving away from the event, each of my sons called me to touch base and ask me for something. Prayer.
It dawned on me that God was showing me what my legacy will be for them…that I was a praying momma.
What a humbling thing, to be shown how one is seen.
I wasn’t always a woman of prayer. I was a woman of worry, fear and mistrust. I lived by ‘if it’s to be it’s up to me’ for so many years.
But God…
gave me sweet opportunities to learn from His Word as I sat rocking these baby boys. He taught me to lift up my worries to Him. To ask Him for favor, for their salvation, physical safety, development of their minds. He gave me words to pray back to Him like those at the end of
Psalm 91:14-16. I have prayed with each of their names inserted where the pronouns are:
“Because (he) has loved Me, therefore I will deliver (him); I will set (him) securely on high, because (he) has known My name.
(He) will call upon Me, and I will answer (him); I will be with (him) in trouble; I will rescue (him), and honor (him).
With a long life I will satisfy (him) and let (him) behold My salvation.”
He gave me a sense of purpose to spend the quiet times like those lifting up my dreams of who these babies would one day be, of the men they would grow into many years in the future. I developed the practice of using my laundry time to pray for the 10 year old feet who wore the once white socks; to pray for the arms that would go stronger over time, that they would become the men God desires them to be.
Now they are men. One is married to a beautiful, Christ-following woman. She was prayed for long before he met her. They serve God in His kingdom building purposes as church planters in Utah. The other son is in college, a sophomore Gator at UF, 3000 miles away.
I miss them. A lot. But God…
is with them, in them and guiding them in the lives He has planned for them.
Just as this simple momma asked Him again and again.
My prayers are not my prayers alone. The One Who answers is also the One Who leads us to come be with Him in the quiet place where our soul can breathe out the burdens and worries and breathe in His peace in return.
God has taught me to rest in Him. He has got these babies/boys/men.
Trusting God. Talking with Him about everything. What a gift that He gave me years ago; the gift of prayer.
A gift of investment. Of time, of heart, of hope. You deposit your meager prayers like I did.
Ask Him. He longs to hear your words, pleas, worries and fears. He will transform those investments (and you!) over time.
It is your #1 investment strategy that will pay huge dividends both now and eternity future!